Agrregation-dependent slot format

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure pertains to a radio node, methods and devices for a Radio Access Network. The radio node is adapted for communicating in the Radio Access Network based on a scheduled slot aggregation comprising a plurality of slots, wherein a slot format of at least one slot of the slot aggregation is adapted based on a structure of the slot aggregation.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure pertains to wireless communication technology, inparticular to Radio Access Network (RAN) technology.

BACKGROUND

For new (in particular, 5^(th) Generation or 5G) wireless communicationnetworks, new approaches to cover different and growing use cases aredeveloped. In particular, new and more flexible transmission timeintervals (TTI) and/or timescales for scheduled communication are beingdiscussed. Increased flexibility might lead to an undesirable amount ofsignaling overhead, in particular related to control information.

SUMMARY

It is an object of this disclosure to provide approaches allowingflexible transmission scheduling while facilitating limited signalingoverhead.

Accordingly, there is described a radio node for a Radio Access Network(RAN). The radio node is adapted for communicating in the Radio AccessNetwork based on a scheduled slot aggregation comprising a plurality ofslots. A slot format of at least one slot of the slot aggregation isadapted based on a structure of the slot aggregation. The radio node maycomprise a communicating module for such communicating. It may beconsidered that the radio node comprises an adapting module for adaptingthe slot format.

There is also described a method for operating a radio node in a RadioAccess Network. The method comprises communicating in the Radio AccessNetwork based on a scheduled slot aggregation comprising a plurality ofslots, wherein a slot format of at least one slot of the slotaggregation is adapted based on a structure of the slot aggregation.

With adapting the slot format based on a structure of the slotaggregation, the slot format may be chosen is a suitable way, e.g. tolimit overhead.

A radio node may generally be implemented as a network node or aterminal. Communicating in the RAN may comprise uplink and/or downlinktransmission (or sidelink transmission, e.g. between terminals)utilising the RAN and/or associated RAT, respectively the reception ofsuch transmission.

A slot aggregation may generally comprise at least two slots havingdifferent prescribed durations.

It may be considered that a slot format indicates one or more timeand/or frequency (or time-frequency) resources scheduled for controlinformation and/or one or more time and/or frequency (or time-frequency)resources scheduled for data. In particular, the slot format mayindicate the arrangement of the resource/s within the slot, respectivelya time-frequency grid defined and/or determined by the slot.

The structure of the slot aggregation may represent and/or indicate anorder of the slots of the slot aggregation, in particular an order intime. The slots may be arranged to be consecutive and/or successive intime, e.g., such that a border of a slot in time abuts a border ofanother slot of the slot aggregation. The structure may generally assigna position (in time and/or sequence) for or to each slot in the slotaggregation.

Advantageously, the slot format may be adapted based on a density ofcontrol information of the slot aggregation. The density is a goodmeasure of control information and potential overhead. Alternatively oradditionally, the slot format may be adapted based on a number ofresources (e.g., resource elements) scheduled for control informationwithin a time interval covering more than one slot (or mini-slot).

Alternatively or additionally to the variants described above, there maygenerally be considered a radio node, in particular a network node,adapted for configuring a second radio node, in particular a terminal,for communicating with a slot format adapted based on the structure of ascheduled slot aggregation. The scheduled slot aggregation may be a slotaggregation scheduled and/or configured for the second radio node. Theradio node may comprise a configuring module for such configuring. Theremay also be considered a method for operating a radio node in a RAN, themethod comprising configuring a second radio node, in particular aterminal, for communicating with a slot format adapted based on thestructure of a scheduled slot aggregation.

There may also be considered a program product comprising instructionsadapted for causing control circuitry to perform and/or control any onemethod or any combination of methods described herein.

A storage medium storing a program product as described herein and/orinstructions adapted for causing control circuitry to perform and/orcontrol any one method or any combination of methods described herein isalso proposed.

BRIEF DISCUSSION OF THE DRAWINGS

The drawings are provided to illustrate concepts and approachesdescribed herein, and are not intended to limit their scope. Thedrawings comprise:

FIGS. 1a and 1 b, showing exemplary slot aggregations;

FIGS. 2a, 2b and 2c , showing exemplary slot formats;

FIGS. 3a and 3b , showing further exemplary slot formats;

FIG. 4, showing a schematic of an exemplary radio node; and

FIG. 5, showing a flowchart of an exemplary method for operating a radionode; and

FIG. 6, showing another schematic of an exemplary radio node.

DETAILED DISCUSSION

In the context of this disclosure, communicating may comprisetransmitting and/or receiving, in particular of wireless and/or radiosignaling in or of the RAN. Transmitting based on a scheduled slotaggregation may comprise transmitting using the associated (adapted)slot format, e.g. such that the transmission utilizes the slotformat(s). Receiving based on a scheduled slot aggregation may compriseassuming that a received transmission follows the format(s) associatedto the slot aggregation, in particular utilises the adapted slot formatfor the associated slot(s). Signaling may generally comprise one or moresymbols being transmitted. Transmitting, e.g. from a network node, to aterminal may be considered downlink transmission, transmitting, e.g.from a terminal, to a network node may be considered uplinktransmission.

A slot may generally represent any time-structure, in particulartime-frequency structure, with a pre-defined duration (length in time ortime interval), for which in particular time-frequency resources forcommunication may be scheduled for at least one, and/or specifically forone, radio node. A slot may, for example, cover or comprise a number ofsymbols (e.g., 7) and a number of frequency bands, e.g. subcarriers(e.g., 12). The numbered examples here can pertain to LTE, otherexamples, e.g. for other 5G technologies may be considered. A mini-slot,which may comprise or cover less symbols than a slot, e.g. 6 or 5 orfewer symbols, may be considered to be an example of a slot. It maygenerally be considered that slots in a slot aggregation, even if havingdifferent durations, may cover the same frequency range (e.g., carrier/sand/or subcarrier/s). A slot or type of slots may be limited to beginand/or end at specific points in time or at specific symbols numbers(e.g., it may be prescribed that a slot may only begin at symbols withspecific periodicity, e.g. every Nth or Mth symbol). Alternatively oradditionally, there may be considered slots with arbitrary beginningand/or ending (e.g., types of mini-slots). Such slot characteristics maybe defined by a standard.

Both slots and mini-slots (or different structures) may be consideredexamples of slots, with a mini-slot having shorter duration (comprisingor covering a lower number of symbols) than an associated slot. A symbolmay generally correspond to an OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency DivisionMultiple Access) symbol, e.g. in downlink (respectively in some cases,e.g. for LTE, an SC-FDMA, Single Carrier Frequency Division MultipleAccess, symbol). However, the approaches described herein are notlimited to specific multiplexing technologies and may also beimplemented e.g. for Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) or TimeDivision Multiple Access (TDMA) technologies. A slot (respectivelymini-slot) may be a slot (respectively mini-slot) as defined for 3GPP 5Gtechnology, in particular NR.

A slot format may indicate and/or define the characteristics of a slot,in particular pertaining to the presence and/or position of controlinformation relative to the slot, e.g. regarding which resource/s are tobe used for control information. A slot format may also define othercharacteristics, e.g. duration and/or number of symbols and/or type ofsymbols (e.g., regarding cyclic prefix), and/or which frequency range iscovered (for example, in terms of subcarriers), etc. In particular, aslot format may define which time-frequency resource(s) of a slot areassigned or allocated or to be used for control information and/or data.The slot format may indicate the arrangement of such resource(s) withinthe slot, e.g. in relation to a time-frequency resource grid associatedto the slot, which may represent the individual resources of the slot(e.g., a grid of subcarriers over symbols of the slot, which may cover anumber of total individual resources of number of symbols x number ofsubcarrier/frequency bands). A slot format may be associated to a slot,in particular a slot of the slot aggregation and/or having a specificduration.

Control information may generally comprise information and/signalingpertaining to the communication process, e.g. reference signaling (e.g.,sounding signaling for uplink, or pilot signaling and/or cell specificreference signaling and/or user specific reference signaling, fordownlink), and/or scheduling information (e.g., resource and/orscheduling assignment and/or request) and/or feedback (e.g., HARQfeedback, and/or measurement feedback on received reference signaling).Examples for downlink reference signaling comprise demodulationreference signaling like DMRS (DeModulation Reference Signaling) andCSI-RS (Channel State Information-Reference Signaling).

Generally, control information in downlink may comprise downlink controlinformation like Downlink Control Information, DCI, according to 3GPPstandards, e.g. LTE. Control information in uplink may comprise uplinkcontrol information, e.g. Uplink Control Information, UCI, according to3GPP standards, e.g. LTE. Control information may in particular pertainto information of one or more radio layers of communication, in somevariants physical layer information. The above examples pertain touplink and downlink control information. Data may generally comprise anykind of data, in particular user data and/or payload data. Data maypertain to information from higher layers, in particular above the radioand/or physical layer/s.

A time-frequency resource (resource) may represent a specific frequencyand/or frequency band and/or carrier and/or subcarrier forcommunicating, associated to a specific time interval. An individualresource may also be referred to as resource element (e.g., a ResourceElement, RE, according to 3GPP standards). The time interval may be atime interval for a single symbol and/or for transmission of commonlymodulated bits of data. Resource(s) may generally comprise one or moreof such time-frequency resources. It may be considered that resourcesare arranged in groups or blocks, e.g. comprising a plurality offrequencies (or frequency bands) and/or subcarriers, which may becontinuously abutting.

Adapting a slot format may comprise selecting and/or setting the slotformat. For different slots of a slot aggregation, different slotformats may be adapted and/or selected. Adapting a slot format may inparticular refer to selecting and/or setting one format out of aplurality of available formats for the associated slot. The slotformat(s) may be predefined, e.g. stored in a memory of the radio node.A slot format being adapted based on the structure of the slotaggregation may refer to such adapting having been performed on or forthe associated slot. Which slot format is adapted or selected may bedefined based on the structure of the slot aggregation.

Adapting the slot format based on a structure of a slot aggregation maycomprise adapting and/or selecting the slot format based on anindication of the slot aggregation and/or structure thereof. Such anindication may comprise any information indicating the slot aggregation,e.g. an index and/or information provided when configuring, and/orscheduling information and/or one or more suitable parameters. Theindication may indicate, implicitly and/or explicitly, the number ofslots, and/or the positioning (on which resource/s) and/or presence ofcontrol information in one or more or each of the slots of the slotaggregation.

It may be considered that adapting a slot format comprises reading froma memory, and/or a table, which may be in a memory, which slot format touse for a slot (or for each slot) in a scheduled slot aggregation.Generally, there may be considered utilising one or more maps orfunctions mapping slot format/s for one or more slots to one or more(possible) slot aggregations, based on which adapting a slot format maybe performed. It may be considered that a slot aggregation representsits structure, thus such mapping represents adapting a slot format basedon a structure of the slot aggregation.

Adapting a slot format may generally comprise setting the slot format,e.g. setting and/or arranging and/or controlling the positioning ofcontrol information in the slot. Slot formats may generally (for slotsof the same duration/covering or comprising the same number of symbols)differ regarding the position of control information within theassociated slot. For different slot formats, the control information maybe (relative to the slot or grid) shifted, for example to the middle orthe end, and/or allocated fewer resources (e.g., covering only the firstsymbol instead of two or three symbols). In some cases, an adapted slotformat may define that no reference signaling and/or no controlsignaling, or nor control information, is to be in the slot.

It may be considered that an adapted slot format defines that specifickind/s of control information is to be omitted/not transmitted or notincluded in the slot. Kinds of control signaling may comprise e.g.specific kinds of reference signaling (e.g., cell-specific and/oruser-specific reference signaling (for example channel state informationreference signaling or demodulation reference signaling), or soundingsignaling (in uplink), for example CSI-RS and/or DMRS or similar indownlink, or SRS (Sounding Reference Signaling) in uplink) and/orspecific kinds of control signaling, e.g. DCI or UCI, in particularscheduling information and/or feedback, e.g. measurement feedback orHARQ feedback. Alternatively or additionally, an adapted slot format maydefine which kinds of control information is to be transmitted orincluded in a slot.

The structure of the slot aggregation may generally be representedand/or indicated by corresponding information, e.g. one or more indexesand/or parameters, and/or one or more tables, which may be indicated orindexed. Such information may be control information, e.g. comprised inscheduling information. In some variants, adapting the slot format basedon the structure of the slot aggregation may be based on receivinginformation (e.g., control information), indicating which slot format/sto use. A radio node may be adapted to transmit such indication, and/orto receive such indication. The structure of a slot aggregation may forexample indicate and/or represent the number of slots, and/or the typeof slots, and/or order or sequence of slots in time, and/or the length(duration and/or number of symbols) of the slots, and/or position orpresence of control information in the slots.

A scheduled slot aggregation may be a slot aggregation scheduled forcommunicating, in particular for the radio node. The scheduled slotaggregation may be scheduled by the RAN, e.g. the radio node, inparticular if it is a network node. It may be considered that thescheduled slot aggregation is configured to the radio node, e.g. if theradio node is a terminal, or a network node receiving scheduling from adifferent node of the network or RAN. It may generally be consideredthat a slot aggregation is configured or scheduled at once and/or withone scheduling decision and/or with one scheduling assignment or message(e.g., DCI message).

The slots may be consecutive. It may be considered that a scheduled slotaggregation pertains to communicating for one radio node respectivelyfor one communication link. The radio node may use the slots of the slotaggregation for communicating with one communication partner (e.g., anetwork node with one terminal, or a terminal with one network node).

Configuring a scheduled slot aggregation (and/or a slot format) maycomprise transmitting corresponding information (e.g., indicating theslot aggregation) to the radio node that is being configured, e.g.allocation data and/or scheduling data, e.g. in form of a schedulingassignment or configuration message or downlink control information(e.g. Downlink Control Information according to a format defined in 3GPPstandards, e.g. according to LTE).

A radio node may generally be a radio node for or in a RAN. A radionode, like a network node or a terminal adapted for correspondingcontrol functionality, may be adapted to schedule the slot aggregationand/or to provide and/or indicate and/or configure a scheduled slotaggregation. The radio node may comprise a scheduling module for suchscheduling. It may alternatively be considered that a radio node, inparticular a terminal, is adapted to be configured with a scheduled slotaggregation, and/or to receive an indication or signaling representingor indicating or comprising a scheduled slot aggregation.

The radio node may comprise an associated receiving module. Thescheduled slot aggregation may be configured by the network and/oranother radio/network node, which may comprise a correspondingconfiguring module. A scheduled slot aggregation may indicate to theradio node that the slots of the slot aggregation are intended to beused for communicating. For example, a radio node may transmit duringthe scheduled slot aggregation, or receive (or be prepared to receive).It may be considered that for some scheduled slot aggregations, theradio node uses the slots for both transmitting and receiving (forexample, Time Division Duplexing, TDD, and/or switching between uplinkand downlink within the slot aggregation or between slots in othertechnologies).

A radio node may generally be any node, like a network node, of or for aRAN adapted for wireless and/or radio communication, and/or any nodeadapted to communicate with or within a RAN, e.g. a terminal. A radionode or network node in particular may be a base station and/or relaynode and/or micro-(or nano-, pico- or femto-) node, or terminal adaptedfor providing corresponding functionality. A terminal may be any devicesuitable as end device for communication utilising the RAN, e.g. a userequipment, mobile phone, smartphone, tablet, computer, sensor equipmentwith communicating functionality, vehicular communication device, deviceadapted for Machine-Type Communication (MTC), etc. A terminal may bemobile, or in some variants stationary (e.g. sensory equipment). A RANmay in particular comprise and/or implement 5G technology, e.g.according to 3GPP standard, in particular sufficiently advanced LTEand/or Next Radio (NR), or successor/s. A network node may in particularbe a base station like an eNodeB

Control information may generally comprise reference signaling (RS)and/or control signaling (ctrl, e.g. uplink respectively downlinkcontrol information, e.g. scheduling and/or power control information,and/or feedback, e.g. UCI and/or DCI).

For a RAN (respectively RAT, Radio Access Technology, the technologyassociated to a RAN), e.g. NR, as an example for upcoming networktechnologies, there may be defined different kinds of slots (differentin particular in terms of duration/number of symbols covered), e.g.slots and mini-slots. For example:

-   -   Slots may cover or comprise N (OFDM) symbols in duration and may        only start at every N:th (OFDM) symbol; and    -   Mini-slots may cover or comprise fewer than N (OFDM) symbols in        length and can start at any (OFDM) symbol (or at least more        often than every N:th (OFDM) symbol).

A slot (and mini-slot) format can be used to define the relativeplacement of control information like reference signals and controlsignaling and data within a slot. One solution is to place controlinformation like reference signals and control signaling at thebeginning of the slot (e.g., for the first 1, 2 or 3 symbols), followedby data in the remainder of the slot.

Aggregation of slots to a slot aggregation can be used to create longertransmission durations than N OFDM symbols (respectively, the durationof one slot).

Aggregation of a mini-slot followed by one or more slots are useful in,e.g., unlicensed spectrum, in order to allow transmissions to start assoon as possible after a successful LBT (Listen-Before-Talk), instead ofwaiting for a slot boundary or for rapid start of transmission forlatency-critical data not fitting into a single mini-slot. Other usecases of a mini-slot are relaxed network node like an eNB (eNodeB, abase station for 3GPP, in particular LTE) synchronization requirements,where it can be useful to have a guard period at the beginning of a DL(downlink) period.

FIG. 1a shows an example of two consecutive slots with controlinformation like reference signals (RS) and/or control signaling (ctrl,e.g., UCI or DCI) at the beginning of the respective slot.

Aggregating a mini-slot to a slot to form a slot aggregation of the slotfollowing the mini-slot can result in unnecessary dense referencesignals (or even control) as shown in FIG. 1 b.

The (adapted) slot format used for a slot may generally depend on theslot format for the preceding (in the slot aggregation) slot ormini-slot. In some cases, the (adapted) slot format may alternatively oradditionally depend on the succeeding slot/s of the slot aggregation.

The term ‘slot format’ is used herein to describe one or more propertiesof a slot (or mini-slot), for example the placement in time and/orfrequency domain of control information, e.g. reference symbols, controlsignals, handling of feedback information such as hybrid-ARQacknowledgements, the set of OFDM symbols in the slot used for datatransmission, the length of a mini-slot, etc. As an example, one couldenvision a slot format A including downlink control signaling andreference signals at the beginning, while slot format B has neitherreference signals nor control signaling at the beginning of the slot.Additional slot formats can easily be defined as applicable.

The slot format used (another term for adapted in this context) for aslot depends in some cases on the slot format of the preceding slot ormini-slot. For example, from the receiver perspective, if the mini-slotimmediately before the slot is shorter than M OFDM symbols, nodemodulation reference signals are inserted in the following slot, atleast not in the beginning of the following slot, otherwise referencesignals are included in the slot. Similarly, no preceding slot ormini-slot intended for the same receiver may imply that the followingslot has downlink control signaling in contrast to a slot with apreceding (mini-)slot for the same receiver.

FIGS. 2a ) and 2 b) show examples of a slot (a) and slot aggregation (b)in which the slots (mini-slot and slot) use a format A with controlinformation. FIG. 2c ) shows an example of a slot aggregation in whichthe second slot (the slot following the mini-slot) has a slot format Badapted to the slot structure such that it does not contain controlinformation. The density of control information in this slot aggregationis clearly lower than the one shown in FIG. 2b ).

FIG. 3a ) shows another example of a slot using format A as above. FIG.3b ) shows an example of a slot aggregation comprising two slots havingthe same length, in which the first slot uses format A and the secondslot format B, without control information.

FIG. 4 schematically shows a radio node 100, which in particular may bea network node like an eNodeB, or a terminal. Radio node 100 comprisescontrol circuitry 120, which may comprise a (or more than one)controller connected to a memory arrangement with at least one memory.Any module of a radio node, e.g. a communicating and/or receiving moduleand/or transmitting module and/or configuring module and/or schedulingmodule, may be implemented in and/or executable by the radio node 100,in particular the control circuitry 120. The control circuitry 120 isconnected to control radio circuitry 122 of the radio node 100, whichprovides receiver and transmitter and/or transceiver functionality. Anantenna circuitry 124 may be connected or connectable to radio circuitry122 for signal reception or transmittance and/or amplification. Theradio node 100 may be adapted to carry out any of the methods foroperating a radio node disclosed herein; in particular, it may comprisecorresponding circuitry, e.g. control circuitry.

FIG. 5 shows a flowchart of an algorithm of an exemplary method foroperating a radio node. The method comprises an action RS10 ofcommunicating in the Radio Access Network based on a scheduled slotaggregation comprising a plurality of slots, wherein a slot format of atleast one slot of the slot aggregation is adapted based on a structureof the slot aggregation. The method may optionally comprise an actionRS08 of scheduling the slot aggregation for communication, and/orconfiguring a second radio node with the scheduled slot aggregation.Alternatively, action RS08 may comprise receiving an indication of thescheduled slot aggregation. RS10 may be performed based on RS08. AfterRS10, the algorithm may loop back to RS08 or RS10, or stop.

FIG. 6 shows another exemplary radio node, which may be adaptedaccording to the radio node of FIG. 4 and/or to perform the method ofFIG. 5. The radio node may comprise a communicating module RM10 forperforming action RM08. Optionally, the radio node may comprise ascheduling and/or configuring, or a receiving module, for performing acorresponding action RS08.

There may be considered a radio node adapted for performing any one ofthe methods for operating a radio node described herein.

There may be considered a terminal or user equipment adapted forperforming any one of the methods for operating a radio node describedherein.

There is also disclosed a program product comprising code executable bycontrol circuitry, the code causing the control circuitry to carry outand/or control any one of the method for operating a radio node asdescribed herein, in particular if executed on control circuitry, whichmay be control circuitry of a user equipment or a network node.

Moreover, there is disclosed a carrier (or storage) medium arrangementcarrying and/or storing at least any one of the program productsdescribed herein and/or code executable by control circuitry, the codecausing the control circuitry to perform and/or control at least any oneof the methods described herein. A carrier medium arrangement maycomprise one or more carrier media. Generally, a carrier medium may beaccessible and/or readable and/or receivable by control circuitry.Storing data and/or a program product and/or code may be seen as part ofcarrying data and/or a program product and/or code. A carrier mediumgenerally may comprise a guiding/transporting medium and/or a storagemedium. A guiding/transporting medium may be adapted to carry and/orcarry and/or store signals, in particular electromagnetic signals and/orelectrical signals and/or magnetic signals and/or optical signals. Acarrier medium, in particular a guiding/transporting medium, may beadapted to guide such signals to carry them. A carrier medium, inparticular a guiding/transporting medium, may comprise theelectromagnetic field, e.g. radio waves or microwaves, and/or opticallytransmissive material, e.g. glass fiber, and/or cable. A storage mediummay comprise at least one of a memory, which may be volatile ornon-volatile, a buffer, a cache, an optical disc, magnetic memory, flashmemory, etc.

A terminal may be implemented as a user equipment. A terminal or a userequipment (UE) may generally be a device configured for wirelessdevice-to-device communication and/or a terminal for a wireless and/orcellular network, in particular a mobile terminal, for example a mobilephone, smart phone, tablet, PDA, etc. A user equipment or terminal maybe a node of or for a wireless communication network as describedherein, e.g. if it takes over some control and/or relay functionalityfor another terminal or node. It may be envisioned that terminal or auser equipment is adapted for one or more RATs, in particularLTE/E-UTRA. A terminal or user equipment may generally be proximityservices (ProSe) enabled, which may mean it is D2D capable or enabled.It may be considered that a terminal or user equipment comprises radiocircuitry and/control circuitry for wireless communication. Radiocircuitry may comprise for example a receiver device and/or transmitterdevice and/or transceiver device. Control circuitry may include one ormore controllers, which may comprise a microprocessor and/ormicrocontroller and/or FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array) deviceand/or ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) device. It may beconsidered that control circuitry comprises or may be connected orconnectable to memory, which may be adapted to be accessible for readingand/or writing by the controller and/or control circuitry. It may beconsidered that a terminal or user equipment is configured to be aterminal or user equipment adapted for LTE/E-UTRAN. Reference signalingin the uplink may be associated to a terminal, e.g. SRS.

A radio node or network node or base station may be any kind of radionode or base station of a wireless and/or cellular network adapted toserve one or more terminals or user equipments. It may be consideredthat a base station is a node or network node of a wirelesscommunication network. A radio node or network node or base station maybe adapted to provide and/or define and/or to serve one or more cells ofthe network and/or to allocate frequency and/or time resources forcommunication to one or more nodes or terminals of a network. Generally,any node adapted to provide such functionality may be considered a basestation. It may be considered that a base station or more generally anetwork node, in particular a radio network node, comprises radiocircuitry and/or control circuitry for wireless communication. It may beenvisioned that a base station or radio node is adapted for one or moreRATs, in particular LTE/E-UTRA. Radio circuitry may comprise for examplea receiver device and/or transmitter device and/or transceiver device.Control circuitry may include one or more controllers, which maycomprise a microprocessor and/or microcontroller and/or FPGA(Field-Programmable Gate Array) device and/or ASIC (Application SpecificIntegrated Circuit) device. It may be considered that control circuitrycomprises or may be connected or connectable to memory, which may beadapted to be accessible for reading and/or writing by the controllerand/or control circuitry. A base station may be arranged to be a node ofa wireless communication network, in particular configured for and/or toenable and/or to facilitate and/or to participate in cellularcommunication, e.g. as a device directly involved or as an auxiliaryand/or coordinating node. Generally, a base station may be arranged tocommunicate with a core network and/or to provide services and/orcontrol to one or more user equipments and/or to relay and/or transportcommunications and/or data between one or more user equipments and acore network and/or another base station and/or be Proximity Serviceenabled.

An eNodeB (eNB) may be envisioned as an example of a radio node or basestation, e.g. according to an LTE standard. A radio node or base stationmay generally be proximity service enabled and/or to providecorresponding services. It may be considered that a radio node basestation is configured as or connected or connectable to an EvolvedPacket Core (EPC) and/or to provide and/or connect to correspondingfunctionality. The functionality and/or multiple different functions ofa radio node or base station may be distributed over one or moredifferent devices and/or physical locations and/or nodes. A radio nodeor base station may be considered to be a node of a wirelesscommunication network. Generally, a radio node or base station may beconsidered to be configured to be a coordinating node and/or to allocateresources in particular for cellular communication between two nodes orterminals of a wireless communication network, in particular two userequipments.

In this disclosure, for purposes of explanation and not limitation,specific details are set forth (such as particular network functions,processes and signaling steps) in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the technique presented herein. It will be apparent toone skilled in the art that the present concepts and aspects may bepracticed in other embodiments and variants that depart from thesespecific details.

For example, the concepts and variants are partially described in thecontext of Long Term Evolution (LTE) or LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) or NextRadio mobile or wireless communications technologies; however, this doesnot rule out the use of the present concepts and aspects in connectionwith additional or alternative mobile communication technologies such asthe Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). While the followingembodiments will partially be described with respect to certainTechnical Specifications (TSs) of the Third Generation PartnershipProject (3GPP), it will be appreciated that the present concepts andaspects could also be realized in connection with different PerformanceManagement (PM) specifications.

Moreover, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the services,functions and steps explained herein may be implemented using softwarefunctioning in conjunction with a programmed microprocessor, or using anApplication Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Digital SignalProcessor (DSP), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or generalpurpose computer. It will also be appreciated that while the embodimentsdescribed herein are elucidated in the context of methods and devices,the concepts and aspects presented herein may also be embodied in aprogram product as well as in a system comprising control circuitry,e.g. a computer processor and a memory coupled to the processor, whereinthe memory is encoded with one or more programs or program products thatexecute the services, functions and steps disclosed herein.

It is believed that the advantages of the aspects and variants presentedherein will be fully understood from the foregoing description, and itwill be apparent that various changes may be made in the form,constructions and arrangement of the exemplary aspects thereof withoutdeparting from the scope of the concepts and aspects described herein orwithout sacrificing all of its advantageous effects. The aspectspresented herein can be varied in many ways.

1. A radio node for a Radio Access Network, the radio node beingconfigured for communicating in the Radio Access Network based on ascheduled slot aggregation comprising a plurality of slots, a slotformat of at least one slot of the slot aggregation being configuredbased on a structure of the slot aggregation.
 2. The radio nodeaccording to claim 1, wherein the slot aggregation comprises at leasttwo slots having different prescribed durations.
 3. The radio nodeaccording to claim 1, wherein a slot format indicates at least one of:at least one time-frequency resource scheduled for control information;and at least one time-frequency resource scheduled for data.
 4. Theradio node according to claim 1, wherein the structure of the slotaggregation at least one of represents and indicates an order of theslots of the slot aggregation.
 5. The radio node according to claim 1,wherein the slot format is configured based on a density of controlinformation of the slot aggregation.
 6. A method for operating a radionode in a Radio Access Network, the method comprising communicating inthe Radio Access Network based on a scheduled slot aggregationcomprising a plurality of slots, a slot format of at least one slot ofthe slot aggregation being configured based on a structure of the slotaggregation.
 7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the slotaggregation comprises at least two slots having different prescribeddurations.
 8. The method according to claim 6, wherein a slot formatindicates at least one of: at least one time-frequency resourcescheduled for control information; and at least one time-frequencyresource scheduled for data.
 9. The method according to claim 6, whereinthe structure of the slot aggregation at least one of represents andindicates an order of the slots of the slot aggregation.
 10. The methodaccording to claim 6, wherein the slot format is configured based on adensity of control information of the slot aggregation.
 11. (canceled)12. A computer storage medium storing an executable computer programthat, when executed by control circuitry, at least one of controls andperforms a method for operating a radio node in a Radio Access Network,the method comprising: communicating in the Radio Access Network basedon a scheduled slot aggregation comprising a plurality of slots, a slotformat of at least one slot of the slot aggregation being configuredbased on a structure of the slot aggregation.
 13. The computer storagemedium according to claim 12, wherein the slot aggregation comprises atleast two slots having different prescribed durations.
 14. The computerstorage medium according to claim 12, wherein a slot format indicates atleast one of: at least one time-frequency resource scheduled for controlinformation; and at least one time-frequency resource scheduled fordata.
 15. The radio node according to claim 2, wherein a slot formatindicates at least one of: at least one time-frequency resourcescheduled for control information; and at least one time-frequencyresource scheduled for data.
 16. The radio node according to claim 15,wherein the structure of the slot aggregation at least one of representsand indicates an order of the slots of the slot aggregation.
 17. Theradio node according to claim 2, wherein the structure of the slotaggregation at least one of represents and indicates an order of theslots of the slot aggregation.
 18. The radio node according to claim 2,wherein the slot format is configured based on a density of controlinformation of the slot aggregation.
 19. The method according to claim7, wherein the slot aggregation comprises at least two slots havingdifferent prescribed durations.
 20. The method according to claim 7,wherein a slot format indicates at least one of: at least onetime-frequency resource scheduled for control information; and at leastone time-frequency resource scheduled for data.
 21. The method accordingto claim 7, wherein the slot format is configured based on a density ofcontrol information of the slot aggregation.